Underground empire
Newport partners build fiber optics powerhouse

Posted: Wednesday, Nov 6th, 2013BY: Rick Beasley

CoastCom employees Ryan Kuwalski, left, and Louis Flores handled drilling hardware last Thursday at a Lincoln City construction site where the Newport high-tech company is building fiber optic infrastructure for a Verizon cell tower at the south end of town.
Fiber optic cable is at the core of CoastCom’s fast-growing business, a $20 million mixture of construction for other cable industry users as well as leasing its own network of fiber optic cable on the coast from Reedsport to Astoria. Above, left to right, CoastCom employees Michael Blunt, Tyson Reyes and Ross Adams lay cable last week to a Verizon cell tower in Lincoln City.

NEWPORT — A high-tech company that traces its lineage to the blue-collar trades of auto parts and trucking has become a leader in the Northwest fiber optics industry.